Eighties Contest Entry: 1988 McLaren MP4/4 (and Introduction)

[Big Kahuna]

fabulous scratchbuilding going on at your place.

It's nice to watch such craftsmanship and attention to detail unfold before my very eyes.

[Jekill]

Oustandingly clean scratchbuilding, WOW !!

Roberto

[jaykay640]

Thanks guys for the ongoing positive comments!! I have checked the other contest entries and i agree with a post in one of them....the quality level is getting serious! I'll try to keep up with you guys:-)
So here goes another update:

First up the driver's legroom needed some attention. I needed to put in the "boxes" that will house the front dampers and then the inner walls which don't exist in the kit.



They are necessary to provide mounting points for the suspension arms. I will take those apart ( in the kit they incorrectly go all the way to the middle of the car ). I drilled and filed proper holes as per the original car and put reinforcements between the inner and outer walls.



Now the bastard was finally ready for some glue:-) I put the undertray and monocoque pieces together and filed and fillered them and finally the pieces i made so far were ready for some primer.



I'm using 2K automotive primer because it goes rock hard in a matter of hours and is generally the best stuff i have worked with.
Then came a first round of wet sanding with 600 grit paper.....and oh boy do i hate sanding paint....and it's only just the first layer!!!

Here are two pictures of the real front suspension going into the monocoque:







...and the primered and sanded model.



I also added the holes for the steering arms in the nosecone and small ones in the damper holes and the cutout in the gearshift armrest i mentioned before.

Before carrying on with the body parts i realized i should start with the engine to get things alligned and find any mistakes before doing more painting. Here are the basic pieces from the kit:



I cut off the pieces of the rear where you would put a jack and also the wing supports. All pieces needed some filing and sanding to get the edges nicer and then i glued them together. This was followed by some filling of gaps and more sanding.
Next up i scratchbuilt a new and proper flange ( or however you may call that thing ) for the vertical rear wing supports. The original looks like this:



...and the model now looks like that:



( Sorry for the picture but the contrast of white and black plastic and bad lighting don't help my little camera at all:-)

While waiting for things to harden here and there i also started on the first engine detail ( that actually comes in the kit...:-)
The oiltank sitting on top of the gearbox. The real one looks like this:



...and here you can see the steps of building the model piece:



I cut off the filler cap because it obviously needs different paint than the tank and like this i could detail the tank better. The molded in piece goes all the way to the tank surface but on the real one there's a recess. I sanded the cut off piece thin and added a round piece of plastic underneath. Also the tank got flanges for hoses that will follow later and these welded on round pieces.
They looked like someone had second thoughts about the fabrication of the real tank at McLaren but they are identical on two different chassis i photographed:-) So now only the weld lines are missing. I'll add them with a brush and primer later!
That's it for the moment!

[f1wc]

Wow! simply amazing.. now I feel like I should get a mp4/4 too! maybe all the classic Tamiya Mclarens!
By the way, where did you get those detailed reference pictures? they look sweet!

[klutz_100]

Amazing!

This thread shows that having good reference pics is only part of the story - it's actually being able to bring them to "life" in 1/24 that's the magic element and there's plenty of it in this build.

Keep it coming!

[RallyRaider]

This build just keeps getting better and better! THe thread is a good source of reference pics too.

[Murray Kish]

this is a real treat. thanks for all the effort/work with the pics/info...

Murray

[robrex]

I am really enjoying this!

[Big Kahuna]

Originally Posted by robrex

I am really enjoying this!

NO. I am enjoying this!...

[cooltc2004]

Awesome build so far man!

[Sennake]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Amazing!

This thread shows that having good reference pics is only part of the story - it's actually being able to bring them to "life" in 1/24 that's the magic element and there's plenty of it in this build.

Keep it coming!

Correction : 1/20!

Great progress BTW!

[jaykay640]

Originally Posted by f1wc

Wow! simply amazing.. now I feel like I should get a mp4/4 too! maybe all the classic Tamiya Mclarens!
By the way, where did you get those detailed reference pictures? they look sweet!

As i mentioned in my very first post (....:-) ....) the pictures i post here were taken during the last 2 Festivals of Speed at Goodwood. Pretty much the best place in the world to get reference pictures of racecars. I took piles but everytime i build i find something i missed...:-)

[sportracer02]

Great work, man, this is going to turn out a super McLaren !!!!

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by Sennake

Correction : 1/20!

Great progress BTW!

Good point Sennake!

Totally correct although I meant "1/24" in more sort of genereic, overall modelling way. 'Dunno why, but I was feeling a bit full of myself at the time LOL

Still, I have a feeling that this build is going to end up so good that if I called it a 1/1, no one would be able to tell that it wasn't!

Rock on!

[Sennake]

Originally Posted by jaykay640

I sanded the cut off piece thin and added a round piece of plastic underneath. Also the tank got flanges for hoses that will follow later and these welded on round pieces.

I suppose that you use some kind of "punch and die set" for those round pieces? And if so, which brand are you using (Waldron?...)

I'm thinking of buying such a set myself in the very near future since that's about the only tool I lack in my workshop, and I'm curious to know what the master builders inhere use.

Thanks for the feedback!